Dan Barber


Dan Barber is chef and co-owner of Blue Hill in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York. He is the author of The Third Plate.

Education

He is a 1992 graduate of Tufts University, where he received a B. A. in English, and a graduate of the French Culinary Institute.

Career

Barber operates Blue Hill in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York.
Around 2009, Barber was involved in developing a miniature butternut squash. Together with Michael Mazourek, they created the honeynut squash. The two later created and operate Row 7 Seed Co., a seed company selling similar gourds and other specially-bred seeds.

Recognition

In 2002, Barber was named one of the Best New Chefs by Food and Wine Magazine. He has received several James Beard Foundation awards, including the 2006 award for Best Chef: New York City and the 2009 award for Outstanding Chef. The James Beard Foundation also named him the top chef in America in 2009. Also in 2009, he was named one of the world’s most influential people in Time Magazine's annual Time 100. In 2014 he published The Third Plate: Field notes on the future of food in which he describes the development of mankind via food in four episodes: Soil, Land, Sea and Seeds.

Approach to cuisine

Barber was mentored by one of California Cuisine's notables, Mark Peel at Campanile in Los Angeles. He has written on food and agricultural policies in The New York Times, Gourmet, The Nation, Saveur, and Food & Wine.
In 2008 he gave a TED talk on foie gras produced without force-feeding on a farm in Spain which he describes as a "Garden of Eden".
In 2010, Barber gave a talk at the TED Conference where he outlined his discovery of extensively farmed fish at Veta La Palma. He spoke about how ecological and sustainable farm systems affect the flavor of agricultural products.
Barber was appointed by the President of the United States Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and is also a member of the Advisory Board to the Harvard Medical School Center for Health and The Global Environment. Barber was featured in episode two of the first season of Netflix's Chef's Table series in 2015.

Personal life

He is married to Aria Beth Sloss, a short story writer, novelist and former food writer, with whom he has a daughter born in 2013.